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Geometry Difficulty 6.9 National olympiad Prove it Brazil

If u1,,ukR3u_1, \dots, u_k \in \mathbb{R}^3, denote by C(u1,,uk)C(u_1, \dots, u_k) the cone generated by u1,,uku_1, \dots, u_k:
C(u1,,uk)={a1u1++akuk;a1,,ak[0,+)}. C(u_1, \dots, u_k) = \{a_1 u_1 + \dots + a_k u_k; a_1, \dots, a_k \in [0, +\infty)\}.
Let v1,v2,v3,v4v_1, v_2, v_3, v_4 points randomly and independently chosen from the unit sphere x2+y2+z2=1x^2 + y^2 + z^2 = 1.

a. What is the probability that C(v1,v2,v3,v4)=R3C(v_1, v_2, v_3, v_4) = \mathbb{R}^3?

b. What is the probability that each of the vectors is needed to generate C(v1,v2,v3,v4)C(v_1, v_2, v_3, v_4), i.e., that C(v1,v2,v3)C(v1,v2,v3,v4)C(v_1, v_2, v_3) \neq C(v_1, v_2, v_3, v_4), C(v1,v2,v4)C(v1,v2,v3,v4)C(v_1, v_2, v_4) \neq C(v_1, v_2, v_3, v_4), C(v1,v3,v4)C(v1,v2,v3,v4)C(v_1, v_3, v_4) \neq C(v_1, v_2, v_3, v_4) and C(v2,v3,v4)C(v1,v2,v3,v4)C(v_2, v_3, v_4) \neq C(v_1, v_2, v_3, v_4)?

Solution

a. The probability that the cone of the four vectors is proper is 78\frac{7}{8} so the probability that the cone is all of R3\mathbb{R}^3 is 18\frac{1}{8}.
Construct a vector u12u_{12} that is normal to the plane spanned by v1v_1 and v2v_2 oriented so that v3u12>0v_3 \cdot u_{12} > 0. Then the half-space {wwu120}\{w \mid w \cdot u_{12} \ge 0\} contains the cone generated by {v1,v2,v3}\{v_1, v_2, v_3\}. It follows that if v4u12>0v_4 \cdot u_{12} > 0, the cone generated by all four vectors will be contained in the same half-space. So to keep the cone from being proper, we must assume that v4u12<0v_4 \cdot u_{12} < 0.

Similarly, find u13u_{13} orthogonal to v1v_1 and v3v_3 with v2u13>0v_2 \cdot u_{13} > 0 and u23u_{23} orthogonal to v2v_2 and v3v_3 with v1u13>0v_1 \cdot u_{13} > 0. The cone is proper – contained in a half space – if and only if at least one of the three values v4uij>0v_4 \cdot u_{ij} > 0. I further claim that if all three of those dot products are negative, then the cone covers all of space.
If v1,v2v_1, v_2 and v3v_3 are fixed, the three signs of the dot products v4uijv_4 \cdot u_{ij} are not independent. But if we average over all choices of the vectors, then v1-v_1 occurs exactly as often as +v1+v_1 and so on. We conclude that on average the three dot products in question are negative with probability 18\frac{1}{8}.

b. Given v1,v2v_1, v_2 and v3v_3 then v4v_4 lies in the interior of the cone generated by those three if and only if v4uij>0v_4 \cdot u_{ij} > 0 for all three such dot products. So there is a 18\frac{1}{8} chance that v4v_4 lies in C(v1,v2,v3)C(v_1, v_2, v_3). Similarly, there is a 18\frac{1}{8} chance that v2v_2 lies in C(v1,v3,v4)C(v_1, v_3, v_4). These two events are disjoint: only one vector can be in the interior of a triangle of the other three. So the probability we seek is the union of four disjoint events, each of probability 18\frac{1}{8}, which gives a probability of 12\frac{1}{2}.

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